


Oh, It Is Love (Always)

by dubfu (eclipseddestiny)



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Barely Rated M - Mostly just because I can't tell if the tiny bit I wrote elicits M or just T., F/F, It's LOONA's Yerim., Saida - Not enough to include in the relationships list.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 09:44:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17221571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eclipseddestiny/pseuds/dubfu
Summary: Momo is Momo and Mina is Mina, always and always. And it's really as simple of a love story as that.





	Oh, It Is Love (Always)

**Author's Note:**

> Remembered that ["Oh, It Is Love"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry_l-DdYwyo) by Hellogoodbye existed, so it completely inspired this. I pulled a singular all-nighter to write this, so I can't really tell how this is since I'm feeling so wonky, but hopefully you enjoy it!

The new girl in class is quiet, so quiet that no one really dares to approach her at first.  
  
And it isn’t that Momo has any particular reason to be the first to be different, other than the fact that the mysterious girl has pulled out a penguin plushie from her backpack during lunch, and maybe Momo wants to ask for its name purely out of curiosity.  
  
So that’s what Momo does. She walks right up to the girl, sandwich in hand, and smiles despite a full mouth at the shy face only a foot away from her, seated upon the table bench.  
  
She gulps down her food before asking, “Hi! What’s its name?”  
  
“H-Huh?” The girl blushes, probably bashful at the sudden attention that hasn’t come her way in the twelve days so far that she’s been a new student at their middle school, but it’s not like Momo is counting.  
  
“The penguin,” Momo clarifies, face still adorned with a wide smile. Her mom always told her that she should be kind and respectful, especially to strangers – probably even moreso to people who still hide plushies in their backpack. She adds, “It’s so cute!”  
  
“Thank you,” the girl says with a hint of a smile, nodding a bit at the compliment. “He’s my Minguin.”  
  
“’Minguin?’”  
  
The girl purses her lips for a moment before sharing an embarrassed smile. “It’s a mix of my name and a penguin.”  
  
“Oh, right!” Momo giggles, feeling silly that she asked about the penguin first. “What’s your name?”  
  
“Mina,” the girl says, and her soft chuckle is a sound that tickles at Momo’s ears, “Yours?”  
  
“Mina is such a pretty name!” Mina blushes at the compliment, but Momo continues, “I’m Momo!”  
  
“Hi, Momo.”  
  
“Hi, Mina,” Momo beams, holding her sandwich up to Mina. “You want some?”  
  
Mina initially shakes her head subtly but, when Momo wiggles the sandwich a little bit and insists that she try a bite, there is an upward pull at the corners of Mina’s lips before she leans in and takes a thoughtfully small bite before her eyes light up at the taste. Momo takes a seat beside Mina and keeps a smile across her features when Mina asks what’s in the sandwich; an ingredient that Momo’s mom has repeated to her time and time again, and obviously a sixth grade Momo knows without a shred of doubt that her mom only ever tells the truth.  
  
“It is love!”

* * *

  
“Minari!”  
  
The surprised smile on Mina’s face as she closes the locker is enough to brighten Momo’s mood substantially, despite how her day has been so far. Late to school, some forgotten pencils, a shaky battle with her first algebra exam, and almost forgetting about the tryouts for the volleyball team. Momo hopes that being a freshman in high school won’t be this hard forever.  
  
“Hi, Momo,” Mina greets in her soft voice, the one that Momo has known all too well since middle school. It’s as warm as ever, and exactly what Momo needs in this moment. “Isn’t the volleyball tryout soon?”  
  
Momo waves a hand dismissively before wrapping her arms around Mina. “Yes! Just wanted to say goodbye. I definitely remembered.”  
  
“Sure you did,” Mina giggles, returning the hug. “Are you nervous?”  
  
“A little,” Momo shrugs, trying to play it cool as she pulls away. “It will probably be fine.”  
  
“I don’t have a lot of homework today, if you want me to come?”  
  
Momo blinks. “Really? What about your ride?”  
  
“My dad can give me a ride later or we can walk home after your tryouts if you want.”  
  
“I would be so happy if you did,” Momo grins, grabbing Mina’s hands with both of her own. “You can come over to eat dinner at my house, so I can make it up to you.”  
  
Mina raises an eyebrow, seemingly amused by that. “There’s nothing to make up for. It’s really no trouble.”  
  
“It’s not like it’s going to be fun to watch or anything,” Momo shrugs, already guiding Mina along with her toward the gymnasium. The nervousness pools in her stomach, but she distracts herself by observing the way that Mina wears both straps of her backpack while Momo only has one strap slung onto her own shoulder. She adds, “You can even start on the little homework you have while you’re there, if you want. It’ll just be nice knowing someone is there for me.”  
  
Mina nudges Momo’s shoulder gently. “I’ll always be there for you. It’s what best friends are for.”  
  
“I know,” Momo smiles at Mina before adding, “Likewise.”  
  
The walk to the gymnasium is fairly brief, given the fact that the lockers are closer toward the front entrance of the school, where both the auditorium and gymnasium are by. There is already a net set up and a bunch of other girls waiting or practicing, and the feeling in Momo’s stomach intensifies for a bit. It’s intimidating, and her status as a freshman suddenly feels more prominent. But the worry dissipates for a moment when she feels a gentle squeeze around her hand.  
  
“It’s going to be okay,” Mina assures quietly, “Just do your best.”  
  
And at those words, Momo might just believe that it will be okay. She smiles and squeezes Mina’s hand back just a bit before walking off toward the other girls. She’s grateful that she’s one of the taller ones, as that will be an advantage in her favor, but she isn’t entirely sure if her basics are tuned enough to make the cut. It isn’t that the basics are tough, but faltering under pressure at the tryout would definitely look bad on her. But then she’s hit in the head by a volleyball.  
  
“I’m sorry!”  
  
Momo blinks, barely having had flinched but acutely aware of the tingling around the bridge of her nose. She bends down and picks up the ball, turning back to the voice of a girl that is quickly in her personal bubble.  
  
“Are you hurt?” The girl asks, swiping the volleyball and gathering it under an arm before hastily grabbing Momo’s hands, much to the latter’s blushing surprise.  
  
“Er,” Momo mumbles, silently observing that the girl is just slightly taller than her. She isn’t used to people being so touchy but, once she regains her composure, she answers, “I’m fine, it’s okay.”  
  
The girl grins before practically squeaking, “Awesome! I’m glad to hear it. I really didn’t mean it, you know? Sometimes I’m clumsy. But only sometimes! My name is Sana, by the way! What’s yours?”  
  
“Momo.” The speed of Sana’s words throws Momo off, having been so used to the calmer pace of her best friend, Mina. She isn’t even sure that she registers everything, but the girl in front of her is incredibly bubbly and practically glowing while she bounces in place as she suddenly goes off on a tangent about her excitement over the tryouts, and that she hopes her hitting Momo in the head is more of some stroke of luck rather than an omen. That latter bit doesn’t make sense to Momo, but neither does the swift comfort that Sana chooses to have around her. By the time tryouts officially start, Sana has already explained that she is a new student to this district and that, despite hitting Momo in her “pretty face,” she hopes that Momo would be willing to be her first friend.  
  
And, as confused and stunned as she initially was, Momo can’t help but feel a tug in her heart at the way Sana’s voice softens and slows at the notion of getting to know one another. It reminds her of a shy little girl and a penguin plush, except this time Momo is not the one offering the company.  So, of course, Momo says that she wouldn’t mind being friends. After all, if they both end up on the team, wouldn’t it be starting off on the right foot by having a buddy for a teammate?  
  
In fact, she shocks herself by how internally desperate she is for Sana to do well when she sees the girl smile and walk toward the coaches upon hearing her name. Momo watches intently as Sana is measured, then asked to do various basic moves with the ball and net, and Momo is pleasantly surprised by the lack of clumsiness from Sana’s performance. It’s a relief; there’s no way she won’t make it onto the team.  
  
Momo’s name is called as soon as Sana returns, and the latter gives Momo a bright smile and an encouraging fist before she begins to walk over to the coaches. Turning her head toward the bleachers along the way, Momo can feel the tension in her shoulders relax when she spots Mina watching her, a small smile on her face while she offers a subtle wave from her seat. That quiet assurance buzzes at the back of her head, _“It’s going to be okay.”_  
  
As far as she can tell by their facial reactions, the coaches seem pleased by Momo’s measurements and, despite feeling like her palms are sweating the entire time, she feels as though her display of the basics goes just as smoothly. It feels much faster than it had when she was watching Sana, and something about that feels backwards, but she’s glad that the first half is over. The coaches quickly divide the girls up into two different teams, some upperclassmen present to aid in the practice, and they play a small scrimmage to get a sense for the new recruits’ potential capacity for teamwork. Momo isn’t entirely sure what she should expect to be considered good enough in this exercise, but she resists the urge to overthink it and focuses entirely on playing as though she were in a real game. Hearing Sana’s callouts from time to time manages to help her forget that she’s under pressure to prove something of herself.  
  
And like that, the tryouts are over, and the coaches assure the girls that they will keep in contact. Momo doesn’t pay much attention to the rest of what they say, feeling too drained to do much else other than lean her head on Sana’s shoulder and gently hum with her eyes closed. Sana barely seems to notice the added weight on her, let alone mind it, but Momo can both hear and feel Sana talking suddenly, her bubbly body movement causing her shoulder to wiggle around ever so slightly.  
  
“Oh my god, you’re so pretty!”  
  
Momo opens an eye and sees that Mina has approached them, and she immediately straightens up and grins at the younger girl. Mina is busy tucking a strand of hair behind her ear – a habit that Momo knows all too well from when she gets bashful – as Sana beams at her, probably still taken aback by the unabashed compliment.  
  
Mina’s smile is polite. “Thank you. You’re also very pretty.”  
  
“Don’t worry about it, Minari,” Momo chuckles, patting Sana’s shoulder, “This is Sana. We just became friends.”  
  
Sana giggles. “I didn’t give her much of a choice.”  
  
“I could’ve said no!” Momo retorts.  
  
“You can’t resist me, Momoring!”  
  
The nickname catches her off-guard, but Momo still manages to roll her eyes. She looks at Mina again, and smirks in amusement as Mina’s eyes dart between the two of them, a clear sense of confusion in her gaze.  
  
“You _just_ became friends?” Mina questions.  
  
Sana bounces, patting Momo’s head before confirming, “Yep!”  
  
It takes a moment, but Mina inevitably lets out a soft chuckle. Momo understands; it definitely doesn’t feel like an average experience for a friendship to not only start so quickly but for there to be nicknames on the table. But somehow, Momo can believe that Sana is like that and that it isn’t too strange, weirdly enough.  
  
“Do you want to be friends, too?” Sana asks, giving Mina the same puppy eyes that she had given Momo not too long ago. Mina’s eyes widen before nodding slowly, probably without properly thinking first.  
  
Momo chimes in, “We have to go home, Sana, but I hope that both of us get in!”  
  
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ll debut as teammates together,” Sana smirks, striking a confident pose that leaves Momo feeling confident that the girl watches anime in her spare time. Although Mina is still more quiet than not, the three of them exchange phone numbers.  
  
It hasn’t even been five minutes since they started walking home from school that both Momo and Mina receive a text notification, a gif of a tail-wagging Shiba and an accompanied _“Hello!”_ in what is now a newly made group chat between the three of them. Momo rolls her eyes, but Mina chuckles yet again at Sana’s antics.  
  
“She has a lot of energy,” Mina teases, “I’m almost jealous.”  
  
Momo links their arms together, side by side as they walk. “You’re perfect the way you are, Minari.”  
  
“Is that so?” Mina smirks, raising an eyebrow at Momo.  
  
Momo nods with no hesitation. “You wouldn’t be you if you were like Sana. Mina should stay like Mina and Sana should stay like Sana. It’s how the world was meant to work.”  
  
There is a pause before Mina speaks up again, “You want to know my favorite thing about the world?”  
  
“What?”  
  
“It’s that you’re Momo. And you’ll always be Momo.”  
  
It's not rocket science, by any means. In fact, it’s kind of a silly set of sentences that Momo briefly feels is uncharacteristic of Mina. Overly simplistic, referring to Momo in third person, vague enough that it could be a throwaway moment if Momo wasn’t in the habit of overthinking things sometimes. But Momo smiles because Mina smiles at her, so maybe it’s okay for things to be straightforward and uncomplicated, for it to really be as easy as being two separate people on the same planet who just so happened to end up gravitating toward one another.  
  
And that’s when freshman Momo begins to wonder what the coiling feeling in her stomach is as she becomes hyperaware of the moles along Mina’s face, of the way the tip of her nose pinkens when it’s even the slightest bit chilly, of the languid way Mina’s fingers always manage to find hers when they walk home, of how the past three years have somehow been so fast and yet filled to the brim with something foreign that Momo never realized had gone unspoken. An unspoken fear, with a resounding name.  
  
_It is love.  
_

* * *

  
Senior year should be more special than it feels, or so Momo likes to grumble to herself in the mirror every morning when she has to fight off every urge to drop out of school and never think about homework again. But then she remembers that she gets to see Mina, and suddenly every ounce of senioritis manages to escape her.  
  
It had been a good three years since they were freshmen. Sana easily completed a part of them that both Momo and Mina hadn’t ever considered was missing in the first place, and they were genuinely the best of friends, though Momo isn’t surprised by it at all in hindsight. Both Sana and Momo got onto the volleyball team together while Mina entered the dance club during that first year. But by now, both Sana and Momo have made it onto the varsity team and Mina has become vice-president of the club, having dragged Momo along when they had been juniors. It was a revolutionary time for Momo, realizing a passion for something she had never taken too seriously until Mina invited her into the club, and it caused some stress during the college application period because suddenly she was reconsidering everything she had planned on since she was a child. But her best friends helped her through it, and she’s still proud of the acceptance letter sitting atop her desk, to a prestigious performing arts school in Tokyo.  
  
But it’s another day of senior year, one of the very last before break begins and then everyone prepares to go off to college. The day is like any other, for the most part, because she finds herself warmly greeted by her friends at the entrance of the school before they head their separate ways to their individual classrooms until they inevitably meet up again at lunch and then at the end of the day. And Momo can feel the nerves eating her up from underneath her skin, because today is a day that she has been dreading for the last couple of years – the day where she finally confesses to Mina about how strong her feelings are for her.  
  
Sana is supportive, of course, and has been encouraging Momo ever since she admitted to it halfway through their freshman year one night after a volleyball game against another school. It had been a scary time for Momo, realizing that her best friend was someone that she simultaneously wished was more than just a best friend, but Sana hadn’t teased her, nor did she force Momo to do anything about it. She simply listened, because Momo desperately needed to let out the thoughts in her head since she couldn’t go to her closest friend about it, and that’s when Momo decided that she could trust Sana with anything as a friend. Of course, Momo still had her bouts of guilt over the course of their high school years.  
  
There was that one April night on the weekend where both Mina and Sana’s parents were out of town, so Momo and Sana had a sleepover and maybe managed to sneak a few drinks, only for Momo to cry about having feelings for her best friend whilst tipsy. Sana had cried along with her, offering her embrace on the couch. And there was that one week where Momo acted as though she was officially through with having “unnecessary” feelings and swore to herself that she’d get rid of them by force. But it didn’t last long, and she only made herself miss Mina more and more until she inevitably broke and accidentally became clingier than usual; not that Sana or Mina seemed to notice or mind.  
  
It just wouldn’t go away. Which is why Sana made sure during the latter end of their first year that Momo promised to confess before they graduated, which felt like an impossible enough dream at the time, and maybe Momo agreed to it a little too casually. But then three years went by faster than Momo could blink, and now she’s sitting on this bench outside of the school while she waits for Mina to come out after her final day at the dance club, well-aware that procrastination must come to an end at some point. Momo had left early under some false excuse of needing to meet up with Sana, but she made sure to tell Mina that she would wait outside for her at this usual spot; the spot they spent every morning if they came to school too early, the spot where they always sat together when the weather was warm and they could just talk about the day.  
  
When Mina walks out, already smiling at Momo, it really hits Momo how much things have changed since they were in sixth grade. Mina had always been cute, but she had really grown into a beautiful young woman that many of their classmates adored, for obvious reasons. She remains as dainty as ever, her soft and natural beauty paving the way for many love letters in her locker around February of each year, but Momo also appreciates her intelligence. It isn’t as though there was a time where Momo didn’t think of Mina as smart but, rather, she never fully realized her capacity for knowledge until Mina began to tutor both her and Sana all the time during the week whenever they were stuck. It didn’t matter the subject; Mina was diligent and always caught on, even if it was purely for the sake of helping her two friends.  
  
And Momo liked that about her, too; that attentive kindness, the type that needs no explanation and just exists in its subtleties. Exists in the way that Mina always sets the table without being asked whenever they eat together, in the way that Mina always makes sure that everything is ready to go when they make plans yet somehow always manages to bring along something that either Sana or Momo end up needing in the spur of the moment, in the way that she can almost always tell that something is wrong even when she isn’t sure what it is, in the way that her eyes crinkle when she hands her friends scarves that she knitted herself for Christmas.  
  
“Hi, Momo,” Mina greets, and Momo can tell that she’s already expecting a hug. It hurts her that she can’t do that right now, not in the midst of this supposed “plan” that she definitely hasn’t planned whatsoever. So, instead, she pulls Mina down onto the bench beside her, eliciting a gasp, and tightly holds onto her hands.  Mina blinks before asking, suspiciously, “Is something wrong?”  
  
Momo gulps. “I worry there might be.” And it’s an honest answer, as honest as she can manage without saying everything at once right away. That’s the thing that hurt her most in the past few years; having to lie to Mina’s face every time something was definitely up while Momo could only tell Sana. Momo prided herself in being pretty honest by comparison to most people their age, so it had been even worse for her to lie to Mina, of all people, for so long. It had always left a bad taste in her mouth.  
  
“You’ll tell me?” Mina asks, furrowing her brow as she turns her hands in Momo’s palms and gently holds her hands in return. It already makes Momo want to cry; she doesn’t deserve such a delicate touch at a moment like this, doesn’t deserve the honeylike concern in Mina’s voice.  
  
“Do you remember when we were freshman?” Momo asks.  
  
Mina can’t help but crack a small smile. “That’s not specific enough, Momo.”  
  
“Right,” Momo internally berates herself before continuing, “Do you remember when you said that your favorite thing in the world is that I’m Momo? And that I’m always going to be Momo?”  
  
A blush. “You remember that, Momo?”  
  
“Do you?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Did you mean it?” Momo can feel her hands shaking in Mina’s, but she can also feel the way Mina’s grasp tightens in an effort to soothe her trembling. She sighs, “That I’m always going to be the Momo that is your favorite part of the world?”  
  
Mina’s gaze softens. “Of course I did. I still mean it.”  
  
“D-Do you think there’s anything I could do that would make you feel differently?”  
  
“What, like making me mad at you?”  
  
“Not exactly,” Momo mumbles, pursing her lips. “Or maybe that would happen. I don’t know. Could you hate me?”  
  
Mina shakes her head. “I don’t think so.”  
  
“Even if I,” Momo averts her eyes, “said that I have feelings for you?”  
  
The pause that follows is the longest period of silence that Momo has ever experienced, even though she is certain it’s realistically only about half a minute long whereas it feels more like three hours. She can feel her ears heating up exponentially, a fervent sense of embarrassment and shame crawling up her neck, and she can’t bring herself to move or look in the direction of the girl whose hands have miraculously not tried to escape from her own. She wants to bite her tongue, wants to take everything back, wants to kill Sana for making her promise to do this.  
  
She freezes when one of the hands slip from her own only to cup her cheek. But she doesn’t move, is too afraid to find out that it isn’t a sweet gesture and, rather, something out of pity.  
  
“Momo.”  
  
She can’t look. It’s too overwhelming. Momo doesn’t want to hear those words, those awkward words about how the feelings aren’t mutual, about how they will need to make space for now, about how Mina isn’t sure she can really talk to Momo anymore if this is how she is going to be. But then she feels a gentle brush of her cheekbone, Mina’s thumb caressing the spot with enough care to briefly stir Momo out of her insecurities.  
  
“Momo, look at me?”  
  
And Momo does. Her gaze slowly drags its way back up to Mina, whose other hand is still holding Momo’s tightly. But her eyes are watery, and it is an image that feels wrong against Mina’s soft features, feels wrong on someone who should be hating Momo in this moment. A familiar protectiveness rises.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Momo questions, her voice slightly hoarser than she expected from her nerves, but she doesn’t let it stop her from making sure she asks the question.  
  
Mina offers a small smile. “You scared me.”  
  
Momo pouts. “What do you mean?”  
  
“I thought something was wrong with you.”  
  
“Isn’t there?”  
  
“Momo,” Mina replies firmly, scooting a little closer so suddenly that Momo would flinch if it wasn’t for Mina squeezing her hand to keep her in place. But now that she’s closer, Mina lets go and lifts her free hand to the other side of Momo’s face, only to cup it and rub her thumb along Momo’s cheek similarly to her other hand. She whispers, “It’s okay.”  
  
There is a thunderstorm in Momo’s chest, a rapid drumming in her ribcage that only seems to accelerate and deepen when Mina suddenly leans in an extra inch. Her gaze travels from Momo’s eyes, to her lips, and then back to her eyes again in a silent question. A question that Momo is all too familiar with, because she has dreamed of it more often than she will ever admit.  
  
But Momo nods, despite her fears. The words already made their way out, so why bother with chivalry anymore? It’s past the point of no return, and she feels too dizzy to process things anymore as Mina leans in.  
  
Mina’s hands continue to softly caress the sides of Momo’s face, but she gently tugs so that their lips can meet more quickly, and their eyes flutter shut at the touch. It’s just something they know should happen when two people kiss, despite the fact neither of them have had their first kiss. Plus, there is no way Momo would be able to handle watching as Mina kisses her. _God, wait, we’re kissing._  
  
It's a pleasant sensation, and it helps that Mina’s lips are warm and soft to the touch. Momo isn’t sure how long it’s supposed to stay like that, but she feels like she’s malfunctioning, which is why she lifts her own hands only to place them on top of Mina’s. Typically, she thinks her hands should be someplace like Mina’s face, waist, neck, or really anywhere else other than on top of her hands which are _already_ on her own face. But she isn’t clever right now, is definitely incapable of it entirely in a moment like this.  
  
There isn’t much that goes into the kiss, aside from the warmth and exhilaration of a new feeling. But Mina pulls away slowly, just as slowly as Momo opens her eyes, and there is a bashful giggle shared between the two of them as they blush at what just happened.  
  
“I’m s-sorry, I don’t really know what to do,” Mina stammers, pulling her hands back as well and fidgeting with them in her lap. It isn’t clear if she’s shaking because she’s cold or nervous.  
  
“Don’t apologize!” Momo protests. “I sure as hell don’t know what to do!” She’s grateful for the chortle that bubbles out of Mina, and she takes the moment to remove her varsity jacket and wrap it around Mina’s shoulders, who seems perplexed.  
  
“What’s this for?”  
  
“You looked like you were shaking, so I thought you might be cold.”  
  
Mina smiles, as bashful as it may be. “You’re still Momo.”  
  
Again, it’s something so simple. It’s nothing extraordinary, nothing ingenious, nothing philosophical whatsoever. But it strikes Momo, strikes her with such force that she’s knocked back into the last three years. Years of inner turmoil, years of wanting nothing but happiness for the girl in front of her, years of pining and fighting every urge to get closer, years of feeling like she was always wanting what she couldn’t have. But it’s there, in those words. A dream come true or a dream came true; Momo isn’t quite sure which since she doesn’t know how long Mina has had these mutual feelings.  
  
“Really?” The amount of sheer relief is enough to make Momo want to cry.  
  
“Well, I can double check if you want.”  
  
That makes Momo grin, heat tickling at her skin. “Is that so?”  
  
“Yeah,” Mina smirks playfully, “Help me find out.”  
  
Momo smirks back, gently grabbing the collar of the varsity jacket and pulling Mina back in to try again at another kiss. This time, Mina wraps her arms around Momo’s neck, and Momo’s hands slide up to hold both sides of Mina’s jaw once their lips meet. It’s pleasant again, but Momo does what everyone does in the movies, which is to tilt the head, and she’s grateful that Mina takes the cue and does the same. She dares to be a little more adventurous, practicing by moving her lips against Mina’s in new ways that she isn’t entirely sure of with every smack. But she can feel Mina’s breath hot against her lips, can feel the way Mina smiles back when she, herself, smiles, and feels their teeth clack awkwardly for a moment before giggling against one another’s mouths. A part of her wants to try the tongue thing, but she’s afraid to mess that up. However, Mina manages to stroke her bottom lip with her tongue just as they pull away again.  
  
“That was,” Momo sighs, “better.”  
  
Mina nods, still only an inch away from Momo’s lips. “It was.”  
  
“And what’s the verdict?” Momo inquires, a playful eyebrow rising as she looks down at Mina’s gaze.  
  
“Still Momo,” Mina confirms, swiftly pecking Momo’s lips once more for a brief second, “My Momo.”  
  
“Just so you know,” Momo quickly pecks Mina back, causing the girl to giggle, “I think you’re my favorite part of the world, too.”  
  
And, although Momo could argue that maybe it had started in sixth grade all along, that’s where it begins. A seed planted, a bud sprouted, a flower blossoming at a first kiss. A rose by no other name but one, one that Momo has felt for quite some time now. One that Mina has known, too, even if Momo was none the wiser.  
  
It is love.

* * *

  
Momo doesn’t regret having Mina as her girlfriend. What she does regret on a daily basis these days, however, is how long it took her to get around to it. It’s embarrassing to know that Mina had been hiding away her feelings since that very same walk home when they were freshmen in high school. Years of opportunities wasted being close, and now they’re both in their second year of university and dealing with the long distance that comes with being on campuses that are overseas from one another.  
  
They’re lucky enough to live in the digital age, at least. Despite Mina having an intense workload and regardless of Momo’s practice schedules, they manage to find time for one another, despite timezones. Mina is in Europe while Momo remains in Japan, so finding time is incredibly difficult but not impossible. Sometimes hours of sleep are accidentally sacrificed from both ends, but it’s already their second year of doing it so they’ve learned how to cope and compensate.  
  
But today is an amazing day, because Mina is coming home for the upcoming week due to a break in her university’s academic calendar and Momo finally gets to see her again. Of course, she facetimes her and they exchange photos and texts all the time, but there is no photo that does Mina justice. There is no text that can replace the goosebumps on Momo’s skin when Mina caresses her arms. There’s just nothing like Mina if it isn’t Mina in her entirety.  
  
When Momo meets Mina at the airport, it takes everything for them to not make out on the spot. Instead, they settle for the tightest hug, always striving to make each hug tighter than the last meeting at the airport in the midst of their college years. When they get to the car, they decide to sit in the backseat for half an hour just so that they can cuddle and kiss one another nonstop before having to leave the parking lot. And Momo misses all of it, always more and more every time Mina has to go and come back, and they always sob. Mina always comes back a little different, yet somehow always the same girl Momo is head over heels for. Sometimes it’s a different perfume that Mina is trying out, sometimes it’s an outfit that Mina has only recently purchased but is strangely unlike her average style, sometimes it’s a change in hair length or styling. One time, Mina came back with reddish hair. Another time, she came back with bangs. It didn’t matter, because Momo loved all of those looks just the same.  
  
When they return to the front seats of the car in order to head home, they hold hands the entire ride back. It’s familiar, the way that Mina’s fingers weave with Momo’s. And that’s all they need, along with the usual catching-up that they do whenever Mina comes back. They make sure to save certain interesting stories from the semester for whenever she’s able to return to Japan, just so that there’s always something to find out or laugh about. It’s their system, and it works.  
  
Momo pulls up to the front of Mina’s house, leaning over to give her a goodbye kiss before Mina stops her and gently grabs her arm.  
  
“What’s wrong?” Momo asks, brow furrowed.  
  
Mina’s voice is quiet. “My parents won’t be home for another two days.”  
  
“Really? Why, is everything okay?”  
  
“They’re at a conference in Hamamatsu.”  
  
Momo purses her lips. “Ah, okay. Do you want to stay at my place then?”  
  
“Momo, I really don’t know how to say this,” Mina admits, biting her lip. There’s a brief moment of panic in Momo as her eyes widen, not completely sure of the implication, but Mina can see the worry and immediately calms it, “I’m not going to break up with you, silly.”  
  
“That’s a relief,” Momo chuckles nervously. “Are you positive that you’re not sure how to phrase it? Maybe I can help.”  
  
“I honestly don’t know if I’d feel more shy hearing you say it or if I just said it.” Despite the darkness of the night, Momo can tell Mina’s blushing.  
  
Momo frowns. “Is it bad?”  
  
Mina shakes her head. “No, no. You know… that thing, that we haven’t done?”  
  
“Uh,” Momo blames it being late at night for her inability to understand automatically. She hums, “Not sure.”  
  
“Momo,” The small huff from Mina catches her attention, “My parents aren’t home. The thing we haven’t done yet. We’re alone.”  
  
It clicks after a second, and Momo can feel her left hand’s grip on the steering wheel tightening as her cheeks begin to burn. “Oh.”  
  
“Yeah,” Mina mumbles, her hand returning to Momo’s right palm and gently squeezing it.  
  
“Do you want to try tonight? That’s what you’re getting at, right?” Momo asks, but she knows the answer when Mina squeezes a little tighter.  
  
They’re both aware that they’ve gone longer than most without having sex. But Momo was adamant on waiting for at least a year, but then a year suddenly became two and there was never enough private time or space for them to try between all of Mina’s brief visits back home. When two years have gone by without going all the way, it becomes almost abnormal to think about going further. And it isn’t as though they’ve never touched each other in intimate ways; they have absolutely made out and snuggled in just their underwear before, and maybe touched each other over the clothes in areas that made them want to take the extra step. But they’ve never gone beyond that, both out of fear and out of genuine time or locational constraints. Sana had often joked about letting them “bang” at her singular dorm at her campus, but Mina was mortified at the idea of having sex on their best friend’s bed. Sana always enjoyed the reaction.  
  
Momo mumbles, “You know that I don’t have a single clue about that sort of thing, right?”  
  
“Do you not want to?” Mina asks, turning her head to look at Momo. Her thumb rubs the back of Momo’s hand.  
  
“Of course I do! I just,” Momo shrugs, “I don’t know if I’ll be good at it? You deserve to feel good, don’t you?”  
  
Mina blinks. “Am I the one underneath?”  
  
“Do you… want to… top?” Momo wants to die on the spot, her blush maddeningly hot.  
  
Mina snorts, slightly amused though primarily embarrassed. “Don’t say that, babe.”  
  
“Do you? I mean, honestly, I thought I’d –”  
  
Mina intervenes, “You can go first.”  
  
“’First?’”  
  
“What, did you think it wasn’t reciprocal?” Mina asks, offering a small smile. Her cheeks are still pink and her eyes are shaking a bit, and Momo wants to kiss her. Mina always tries to act tougher for her sake when the situation arises.  
  
Momo flips her palm and pulls Mina’s hand up to kiss the knuckles. “Why don’t we go inside and figure it out from there? I want to do it if you want to do it. This might be the only chance we’ll get, or another two years might pass by.”  
  
They both chuckle at that and exit the car. Momo is grateful for the way they try and discuss it as they walk inside, as they eat a late dinner, and as they head up to Mina’s bedroom. Mina suggests that they both shower and do any bathroom-related things necessary before they attempt to do anything, and it honestly works in their favor because neither seem too willing to pry their eyes off the other, draped in towels and glistening skin.  
  
It’s a slow process, yet somehow it manages to feel like a blur all the same. They kiss lazily in the bed for a long time, clad only in their towels until Momo is the first to initiate things, pulling off Mina’s. And it’s a snowball effect from that point on. There are too many things to register, too many new areas of flesh to memorize and too many new sounds that ring against their ears with every specified touch in new places. Sometimes they’re unsure whether it’s more appropriate to use their fingers or their tongues on certain patches of skin, so they both experiment. They’re alone, for once, and they have the time and space to test the waters.  
  
It's a long night, and Momo prays it doesn’t end, prays that she doesn’t forget how Mina sounds when she drives her over the edge, prays that she doesn’t forget the feeling of Mina’s lithe tongue rubbing against where she’s at her most sensitive, prays that Mina’s parents or her own parents could be gone every single time Mina comes home from school.  
  
It's exciting and awkward and scary all at once, but it’s okay because it’s Mina who is doing this to her. And Momo knows that Mina feels the same way, that she can feel safe in Momo’s embrace. There’s no rush and certainly no judgment, and it becomes a journey of discovering what makes the other feel best. The gentlest touch accompanied by a moan is enough to send Momo reeling in her emotions, and she’s certain Mina feels the same in that they refuse to resist kissing each other whenever their mouths are even remotely close. Mina is beautiful, and Momo can’t help but feel pretty, too, under Mina’s gaze.  
  
It's more than just hormones. It’s more than just sex. It’s that thing that partners make when they care about one another desperately so, and want to express everything they have through touch in a way that words can do no justice.  
  
It is love.

* * *

  
Standing here now, waiting for Mina, Momo can certainly see how it was all ridiculous in hindsight.  
  
A part of her can’t help but feel a bit bad for proposing on Mina’s graduation day. _Don’t people consider it rude to take the spotlight away during another occasion?_  
  
All she knew at the time was that eight years was more than she could wait for. And Momo wasn’t going to let a single day go by after Mina was finally free from her studies before getting down on one knee and just doing what she had been wanting to do since their very first kiss. They were in Europe for the celebration, so why not take the opportunity to steal Mina away and propose to her privately in a quiet yet gorgeous public garden? At least Momo could say she had the foresight to wait for Mina to get in her party outfit rather than take her to the garden while she was still wearing the cap and gown. The pictures of the moment look nicer that way, even if Mina is absolutely sobbing with joy in them (and maybe Momo is, too).  
  
The wedding planning was strangely fun while also managing to be the most stressful process that Momo had ever experienced to date. Money wasn’t as big of an issue as she had anticipated, between Momo already securing a solid job halfway through Mina’s graduate program and Mina’s parents being quite generous with the financial support. Momo tried to refuse as much as she could, because she wouldn’t have felt right with them paying for a lot of the arrangements, but they insisted under the guise that they simply wanted the best for their daughter. In private, Mina admitted that it was mostly just because they were more than well-off and that most of the arrangements they paid for barely scratched their wallets, and that Momo genuinely shouldn’t worry about it because Mina’s parents certainly did not care. Momo always knew that Mina’s family had money, but when faced with realistic wedding planning prices, it _truly_ hit her how wealthy they were.  
  
Momo had never been a huge “dream wedding” kid, but she always figured that it would be a traditional type of church wedding. It wasn’t that she loved churches so much as she wasn’t imaginative enough to really go beyond that when thinking about it. So, when the Myouis not only insisted but secured a French château as their wedding venue, Momo couldn’t help but regret the lack of creativity she put into her wedding ideas growing up. The Myouis were on the right track. Mina deserved the best, and Momo wasn’t sure she could be that. But Mina made sure to hold her tight and assure her that, were it not for the expectations of their families, she wouldn’t mind just getting a marriage license and calling it a day if it meant that she got to be Momo’s, and vice versa.  
  
But when Mina turns the corner and begins down the aisle, all the doubts and insecurities and stressful memories are immediately washed away. Momo barely registers Sana’s hushed gasp from behind her as she sets her eyes on her fiancé, a radiant deity clad in brilliant, shimmering white. Momo can feel the tears pooling in her eyes, and she is briefly unsure if she’ll ever be able to witness a beautiful moment like this again in her lifetime. But then she remembers what this tradition means, that it means seeing Mina for the rest of her life, and so she isn’t worried about missing another gorgeous second when she’ll be getting them plenty. Mina is smiling softly, though she begins to truly beam when she makes eye contact with her spouse-to-be, and Momo almost wants to lean on Sana for support before her knees might threaten to buckle underneath her. But she remains steady, even achieving a successful bow toward Mina’s father when he hands her off to Momo at the front.  
  
Mina’s hands feel more delicate than ever, and Momo resists every urge to kiss the backs of them. In fact, she has to resist the urge to kiss Mina everywhere, because she looks incredible and Momo has gone far too long – since last night, to be exact – without kissing Mina, touching Mina, loving Mina. Just without her, now that she’s been spoiled again by Mina’s lack of academic responsibilities overseas.  
  
They both start, simultaneously, “You look—” and giggle to themselves at the coincidence. They both blush, and Momo can barely fathom the idea that Mina could even look at Momo in her suit and see even a fraction of the beauty that Momo sees in her, but then she remembers a night where Mina felt weak over Momo in sweats and a baggy hoodie on a cold night, so maybe it isn’t too far-fetched. She’s just glad that Mina likes her, loves her, finds her beautiful, wants to be around her, and all of those things that she definitely should have included in her vows.  
  
The service continues as planned, and Momo almost misses the cue for her to begin her vows because she is so distracted by the way Mina refuses to look anywhere else but at her. Maybe it’s the anxiety of being in front of everyone and wanting Momo to be her safety net, maybe it’s because Mina thinks Momo looks hot in her suit, maybe it’s because Mina is panicking and trying to look cool while she tries to remember what she needs to do. But with the glint in Mina’s eye, maybe it really is just pure affection. And Momo wants to return the gesture, but sometimes she has to briefly glance elsewhere because her face feels incredibly hot and staring at Mina for too long at a time while she looks like this will absolutely break Momo. But she clears her throat, because she wants to do this right.  
  
“Minari,” she starts, squeezing Mina’s hands slightly, “I promise to do everything in my power to support you in our marriage together. I will be patient, understanding, forgiving, and willing for you. I promise to do whatever it takes to remind you how much I love you every day, to remind you how important you are in my past, present, and future to the point where I can’t imagine it without you. I could barely survive eight years of you being at college, so I don’t think anyone wants to see me without you in my life in general,” it elicits a few chuckles from the attendees, including a soft one from Sana, “I never believed in soulmates until I met you; my best friend, my lover, my source of happiness. You are my favorite part of this world,” she’s doing her best not to tear up, “because you are Mina. And you will always be _my_ Mina.”  
  
Momo sniffles and almost feels guilty that Mina already looks like she might cry. She desperately tries to convey her warmth and affection with the caress of her thumb, with the gentle massaging of Mina’s fingers while they rest in her own. The minister prompts Mina to share her vows, and Momo braces herself for the onslaught of tears that she might not be able to hold back.  
  
“Momo,” Mina sniffles, “Sometimes I try to think about what my life would have been like if you hadn’t approached me when we were children. But I can’t picture anything, and it wasn’t until you proposed to me that I realized it’s because there is no life for me without you in it. And so, I promise to make _our_ life beautiful for the both of us. I promise to be there for you, like I always said I would be, every day and every night, through every laugh and every cry, through the bright days and the dark days. I promise to treat you to all your favorite foods when you’re hungry and to be not only your partner in life, but your partner for whenever you want to dance. I promise to be your rock, to give you all of me, to love you unconditionally until we’re gone from this Earth. But while we’re here in this world, I promise that my favorite part of it is still,” Mina pauses for a moment to compose herself before continuing, “that you are Momo. And that you will always be _my_ Momo.”  
  
Sana is kind enough to make sure that they aren’t the only ones crying.  
  
The service goes smoothly despite the waterworks, and Sana even hoots and hollers when Momo dips Mina in a grand kissing gesture at the altar, prompting both family and friends to stand and applaud the newlywed couple on their marriage. The festivities begin quickly, and a few toasts go by until it’s Sana’s turn as the last one. She clinks the glass to get the venue’s attention, standing in the middle of courtyard where everyone can see her, donning a slim-fitting suit.  
  
“Good evening, everyone,” Sana greets, beaming toward everyone until her gaze settles on the newlyweds, who simply smile her way and nod for her to begin. “As the _best person_ – a position I was honored by – of this overall wedding, I just wanted to take this moment to thank you all for coming and celebrating my two best friends and their love for one another.”  
  
There’s a brief pause for applause, the guests cheering as Momo and Mina both blush at the attention.  
  
Sana continues, “I was only a freshman in high school when I met these two, so I don’t have all the dirt that you all might want on their middle school shenanigans. I know, I know. I’m sorry about it, too, I promise. But this isn’t about embarrassing them like I normally do, no. It’s about celebrating something that we all should strive for on a daily basis. I can assure you that I’ve never seen someone who loves their partner in the way Momo loves Mina. Momoring spent a long time worrying that her feelings for Mina would be more trouble than good, because she truly believed that Mina deserved only the best that the world had to give, without even realizing that she was exactly what Mina needed all along. She thought everything would be wrong because of how she felt, while being completely unaware that her relationship with Mina is one of the few things that is right in this world. You can’t go wrong with love when it's true.”  
  
Momo desperately squeezes Mina’s hand beneath their table, watching as Sana wipes away a tear from her cheek as one of the lights hit her like a spotlight.  
  
“And Mina, well… You think you know what soft is, but you don’t really know what soft is if you’ve never seen the way that Mina looks at Momoring, the way that Mina holds Momo. She’s quieter than Momo, but she’s just as giving, just as loving. Mina hadn’t been as open about her feelings with anyone back in high school as Momoring had been with me, but after knowing her so long I can only imagine that she kept some kind of diary under her pillow and made sure that Momo got her own section of every page,” she’s not wrong, “Mina is thoughtful, Mina is a support beam when you need it, Mina is playful when you least expect it, Mina is bashful, but above all else… she’s still Mina. And that’s still Momoring. And, god,” Sana points at the two of them with her champagne glass, “I’m honestly not trying to steal your vows here, but I’ve been hearing those words for years and I just have to say that you two are my favorite part of this world, too, okay? Deal with it.”  
  
And then she’s crying, and both Momo and Mina rush over to her and embrace her with the tightest hug they can muster. They know how much Sana loves this, how much Sana loves _them_ , and how much Sana has helped them with all of the little and big things since they became friends. They stand there for a bit, ignoring the applause and cheers from the crowd while they exchange cheek kisses and back rubs amongst the three of them.  
  
“I love you two so much, and I’m so h-happy for you,” Sana weeps, and both Momo and Mina assure her that they love her and are so grateful that she was their _best person_ both for the party and in their life. Sana sniffles before adding, “And I’m a little grateful you never ended up boning at my dorm. I never admitted that, but I mean it because, god, my bed was really small and shitty for a single. You two definitely would’ve broken it.”  
  
And maybe Sana forgets that she has the mic on, and maybe Momo and Mina don’t really notice it either. But none of the guests say anything about it, and then the music starts.  
  
Mina gracefully stands when Momo takes her by the hand and leads her to the center of the dance area of the courtyard. The outdoor section of the venue is gorgeous, a large courtyard with a balcony edge over a cliff to look out toward the mountains in the distance. The pink and lavender hues blending the sky into a gradient is a wonderful sight, the sun barely visible as it sets snuggly behind the mountain range in the distance. String lights and similarly atmospheric lighting fixtures begin to turn on as the sun slowly disappears, adorning the venue in a warm glow.  
  
Momo wraps her arms around Mina’s waist, while Mina wraps her own around Momo’s neck. They press their bodies close, their heads resting against one another’s necks as they sway to the slow music that plays.  
  
“I love you so much,” Momo whispers into Mina’s ear, smiling against her wife’s skin.  
  
Mina presses a kiss to Momo’s neck before reciprocating, “I love you, too, Momo.”  
  
And that’s what it is. Laced along their words, weaved within their fingers, molded into their wedding rings, and caught between their lips.  
  
It is love.

* * *

  
Momo chuckles at the idea, thinking that Mina is teasing her at first, until she realizes that her wife is absolutely serious for the first time with this subject.  
  
Mina raises an eyebrow, unamused but still with a subtle smile as though knowing Momo will actually assume she’s angry if it weren’t there.  
  
“Do you mean it?” Momo wonders, feeling Mina lean against her back while she washes the dishes. “We’re already thirty-four, it’s okay if you don’t want to at this point since it’s a little late. I know I’ve brought it up once or twice, but I never had an idea of what my future would look like, which included barely imagining that, too.”  
  
She can feel Mina smile wider against her shoulder. “Are you happy with the future?”  
  
Momo turns her head and kisses Mina’s scalp. “When it’s with you, of course.”  
  
“I’ve just been thinking about it. I think I’m ready to have one or two kids, but probably no more than that,” Mina says, almost so casually that it would make Momo drop the sponge were she less aware of the subject of conversation. It’s true, Momo had brought up once before that she would have liked to have at least one kid. But the idea was initially one of uncertainty for Mina, one with a lot of worries about how good of a mother she could be. And Momo always assured her that she would be great at it, but those were unlucky years. Apparently thirty-four is the ripe time for children. “We can see how one goes.”  
  
Momo hums, turning off the faucet. “Well, do you want to adopt? Or do you want one of us to give birth? Or do you want to do that thing with the bone marrow? What have you been thinking about?”  
  
“I’m not sure,” Mina shrugs with a hum, “Is there one that you thought would be better?”  
  
“I think adoption might be best. I don’t want to see either of us in pain through pregnancy, plus it’s always really good to adopt, right? There are kids who need homes.”  
  
Momo turns in place, delighted when Mina presses her against the counter, both hands at either side of her along the granite edge. Momo raises her brow and smiles, amused by how quiet Mina is while she’s clearly considering and thinking about it. But her wife merely leans against her, pressing a long and lazy kiss against her neck, and so Momo wraps her arms around Mina in a warm embrace.  
  
“You’re sweet, Momo,” Mina mumbles, pressing more lazy kisses against Momo’s neck and shoulder.  
  
“It’s true, though, right? Adopting would be better?”  
  
“It is, I agree.”  
  
Momo smiles. “We can even adopt an older kid if you are worried about starting with a baby.”  
  
“Would you be upset if we started with a baby?”  
  
Momo blinks. “No, why?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Mina sighs, “I just really want to try it at least once, with you… being parents, I mean, from early on. It’s less scary, if I have you.”  
  
“Then let’s do it,” Momo grins, pressing a huge kiss against Mina’s cheek, “Let’s adopt a baby.”  
  
It's easier said than done, and it’s another full year before they’re able to adopt their first and only baby. It’s not that they learn to dislike the experience of having a child, but they fall completely in love with their baby, Yerim, that they can’t bear the thought of giving the proper amount of attention needed to another baby. So, to keep her from being lonely, Momo and Mina compensate by getting two dogs. When Yerim is older, maybe they’ll get a third as per their daughter’s choice, but she’s only a toddler now and things are perfect the way that they are now.  
  
She’s not very fussy, luckily enough. One might even say that she is an incredibly well-behaved baby, because she only seems to cry or weep when she’s hurt or hungry. There are moments when she’s a bit of a picky eater with the baby food that they get her, but she doesn’t have outbursts about it so much as she just shakes her head cutely with puffed cheeks when she doesn’t want what’s being served. Yerim falls asleep faster than any of them and, even though she wakes up very early on her own, she sleeps relatively well through the night, save for some rare occasions. But Momo and Mina never mind, as they are always willing to get up and soothe their girl.  
  
Baby Yerim has dark brown eyes and dark brown hair to match, and Momo can barely keep her hands off of her whenever she’s around. It makes her heart swell whenever she gently tosses Yerim in the air only for the little girl to laugh gleefully and smile the biggest smile Momo has ever seen on a face so small that it barely fits it. She especially loves when Mina comes home and wastes no time getting on the couch with Yerim, snuggling with her while talking to her, even though Yerim can barely say certain syllables. But it doesn’t stop Mina from talking to her, from cooing to her, from having a one-sided conversation because Yerim can’t stop looking up at Mina in a delighted sense of awe.  
  
Their two dogs are Ray, a Dachshund, and Lucky, a Jack Russel Terrier. They unfortunately discover through the adoption process for the dogs that Momo is allergic, but it sure as hell doesn’t stop them, even if Mina protested a bit for Momo’s sake. It isn’t a severe allergy, but she makes sure to take the required medicine whenever she feels that maybe it’s getting to her. But it rarely does and, like Mina, Momo loves those dogs almost as much as they love their daughter.  
  
And that’s what she sees on their first Christmas card together as a full family, with Momo and Mina standing in front of a pretty Christmas tree in their apartment, Yerim in their arms between them while Ray and Lucky are sat obediently at their feet, wearing little dog-friendly santa hats. An image she never could have dreamed of, a little girl and two dogs that never existed until she was far too deep in this world with Mina.  
  
But it’s okay, because it’s still there. In the way that Mina always talks to Yerim, in the way that Momo dances with Yerim and the dogs and her wife, in the way that their home is never too quiet like it once was when it was just two of them in this space, in the way that Momo kisses Mina hard on the mouth at night because she can’t believe she’s gotten so lucky in life, with Mina kissing back with equal force because maybe she feels the exact same way. It’s in those kisses, too, ever passionate.  
  
It is love.

* * *

  
Ray and Lucky ultimately live a long life, but they’re no longer around by the time Yerim graduates from college. By now, they’ve adopted two more Jack Russel Terriers – Pudding and Petco – but they’re both already six years old as they’re barking longingly at the rest of the family as they exit the house.  
  
“You have everything you need?” Momo asks, getting in the driver’s seat after Yerim nods. Mina is already on the passenger side, her hand awaiting Momo’s as always until suddenly her wife’s hand is in hers and the car is already cruising down the road smoothly.  
  
Mina looks over her shoulder at Yerim and grins. “Nervous?”  
  
“A little, but it’ll be okay,” Yerim says with a reassuring smile.  
  
“You look beautiful, by the way, sweetie,” Mina adds, and Momo has to ignore the way her chest swells when she glances at Yerim from the rearview mirror. She’s a beautiful woman now, having completed veterinary school with good grades and already awaiting a job offer at a local clinic in Kyoto. Even on her hardest days, she’s the type to always be able to offer a smile, and there’s nothing that Momo thinks they could’ve done better to have such a good kid.  
  
Momo tries not to cry, “I’m so proud of you.”  
  
“Momma, don’t start,” Yerim giggles, looking out the window as they drive toward the university, “I’ll allow the tears after the ceremony.”  
  
Mina smirks. “It’s true, Momo. We need to be able to take some photos before she heads in.”  
  
“You look good in our proposal photo despite crying, you know,” Momo mumbles with a pout. “Am I not pretty when I cry?”  
  
Yerim laughs and Mina playfully rolls her eyes while rubbing Momo’s hand before quietly adding, “You’re always pretty.”  
  
Momo shoots her a satisfactory smile, “You, too, Minari.”  
  
“Thank you, I like to think I’m looking pretty good for my early sixties.”  
  
They arrive and take photos with Yerim outside the stadium, between selfies with their daughter and asking for help from Dahyun once she and Sana arrive at the venue. Dahyun doesn’t mind, because she understands at this point how important it is for Momo, Mina, and Sana to share moments like these. Sana even gets a few shots of just herself and Yerim, as is the right of a godmother, and Dahyun gets to take some selfies and photos with Yerim, too, which also include Sana because that’s their niece and they’re so proud of her, even if Dahyun and Sana weren’t married yet when Yerim had initially been adopted. But twenty-two years of marriage is enough for Dahyun to justify a right for taking a photo with her niece.  
  
“She’s so sweet,” Sana sighs as they watch Yerim disappear off into a sea of students by a different entrance. “You two did really well with her.”  
  
Dahyun smiles, an arm wrapped around Sana’s waist. “I can’t believe how much she has grown since she was five… It really feels like it was only last year, right?”  
  
“I know,” Sana pouts, draping herself over Dahyun. “I wanted her to stay a baby forever.”  
  
Mina chuckles. “Shouldn’t Momo and I be the ones saying things like that?”  
  
“She’s my goddaughter!” Sana whines indignantly, “I can be sad about it!”  
  
Dahyun rubs her wife’s back while Momo and Mina giggle, poking at Sana’s sides even now in their older age. They’ve all been able to keep in really good shape, but there are hints in their faces of how they’ve aged. These aren’t the days of volleyball and dance clubs anymore, not the days where they used to hang out around the town together with stamina that they definitely took for granted at the time. It’s scary to Momo sometimes, seeing these aged faces sometimes only to have a vivid flashback of their youthful selves underneath the glittering night sky at a time when their biggest worries were passing exams and college applications.  
  
Mina rubs Momo’s arm, “Are you okay?”  
  
“Oh,” Momo blinks, collecting herself, “I’m fine. Just remembering high school.”  
  
Sana scoffs, “Do you _want_ to remember high school?”  
  
And Momo sees it again, their laughing faces amidst the school drama and the stressful weekdays and the intense volleyball matches against other schools, so she says, “Absolutely.”  
  
Sana raises an eyebrow, before inevitably breaking into a smile and nudging Momo’s arm. “Me, too.”  
  
The graduation ceremony is very long, but the four of them are too excited in trying to look for Yerim amongst the seated students that they manage to stay lively. It’s only when Yerim sneaks her phone out from her gown and points it in their direction that Dahyun spots Yerim, her eagle eye only ever in effect when it comes to cameras, and maybe Momo is grateful for Sana’s taste in women moreso than usual right now. They wave at her enthusiastically, and Mina holds up a banner with her name on it. Yerim grins, but her attention eventually returns to the key speakers out of respect.  
  
They takes tons of blurry photos as Yerim receives her diploma, cheering loudly until she sits back down, only to end up cheering just as loudly again once the ceremony is over and they’ve met up with her again outside. The four of them wrap their arms around her affectionately, squeezing her with pride in such a way that Momo hopes Yerim can feel what they’re trying to convey.  
  
She wants Yerim to know this feeling, to know what it’s called when people who support you so strongly can hold you so tight. She wants Yerim to cherish this moment, this feeling from the people who care for her through thick and thin, to remember exactly what it is.  
  
It is love.

* * *

  
“We used to be that young, you know,” Mina chuckles, kissing the back of Momo’s hand as they watch their daughter slow dance with her new husband. “There was a time when we did this, too.”  
  
The protective mother in Momo is glad that Yerim didn’t get married straight out of college, like she had done herself, and that it took about ten more years for Yerim to find the right man for her. She and Mina had been very meticulous about making sure he was worthy of their daughter, but he ended up being such a sweet guy that they couldn’t help but call him their son even before their engagement had been official. He showed an immense amount of respect for Yerim and her family, and that’s all Momo and Mina could really ask for aside from wanting him to love their daughter with all of his heart. His vows were very promising.  
  
But Momo can’t help but frown at Mina’s words. They’re in their seventies now, retired early due to managing their money well over the years, and suddenly everything feels like it has come up far too fast.  
  
“You know,” Momo starts, “the longest period of time that I ever experienced was when you were overseas for your Biochemistry studies.”  
  
“Really? That was a hard time for us,” Mina agrees with a small smile, and Momo thinks she looks gorgeous even with her silver hair. She has never stopped being the beautiful woman she fell for, not a single time. Not when she cried, not when she was sick, not when she was angry, not a singular moment has gone by where Mina has been anything but stunning.  
  
Momo laughs, “Honestly, those eight years felt longer than the last fifty.”  
  
“You can say that again,” Mina giggles along with her, leaning over and pressing a soft kiss against her wife’s lips.  
  
“And you can do _that_ again,” Momo nudges with a small smile, much to Mina’s delight. And Mina obeys, giving Momo another sweet kiss that tastes just like champagne.  
  
“I’d say get a room, but you’re too old for that sort of thing,” Sana snickers from beside Mina at their shared table.  
  
“You’re the same age as us,” Momo rolls her eyes.  
  
“My body might say seventy-two, but my mind says thirty-six,” Sana says with a wink, quickly darting her mouth toward Dahyun’s, who is sitting right next to her, for a hard kiss.  
  
Mina raises an eyebrow, amused. “Are you trying to make this a competition?”  
  
“Do you want it to be?” Sana asks when she pulls away, smirking at Mina after leaving a slightly dazed Dahyun behind with tingling lips.  
  
“God, please, no,” Momo begs with a groan, “This is my daughter’s wedding.”  
  
“You started it!” Sana points out.  
  
Momo shakes her head, “When Mina and I kiss, it’s sweet. When you and Dahyun kiss, Dahyun is somehow seeped of all her stamina. I mean, god, Sana, look at her!”  
  
Sana blinks, turning to Dahyun who is still blinking at her champagne glass, before frowning. “Baby?”  
  
“Hm?” Dahyun stirs, facing Sana.  
  
“Too much power in my lips?”  
  
Dahyun shrugs, though she doesn’t seem to be fully registering anything, “I’m not complaining.”  
  
“Thank you,” Sana grins, shooting a wink back at her best friends while wrapping an affectionate arm around Dahyun’s shoulders. Dahyun always has her back without even being fully conscious of it, Momo already knows. She always liked Dahyun, and so did Mina. Something about her dorky, more laid-back attitude was somehow befitting for someone like Sana. They used to laugh together when they first started dating and Dahyun was getting to know everyone, because Dahyun would always joke about never expecting to date someone who was a jock in high school. But Sana never protested, because she liked being considered a jock, because it “sounded hot.”  
  
“How did we get here?” Momo whispers to Mina somewhat jokingly, though she doesn’t specify whether she means the wedding or Sana’s antics. Maybe she means everything, she isn’t quite sure.  
  
Mina hums for a moment before answering, “If I remember right, it started with a Minguin and a sandwich.”  
  
Momo grins at Mina affectionately, “You know, after we met, I always had trouble remembering what my life was like before that day. I could never remember, aside from some very selective memories of me with my parents on vacations. And I really think that it’s because my life didn’t really start until I met you.”  
  
“Momo,” Mina’s lip trembles for a moment before smiling, “I hope you’re not trying to upstage our own daughter’s wedding right now… you already had your time to give me your vows.”  
  
Momo winks. “Every day is a vow to keep you in my life. There is no world if you’re not in it, Mina.”  
  
“It’s always the same lines with you,” Mina smirks playfully, holding Momo’s hand beneath the table like she has always done. “Tell me something I don’t know.”  
  
“Uh, you’re sexy?” Momo tries, and Mina laughs.  
  
“A few decades late for that one, I think.”  
  
“Oh, so are you saying I can’t find you sexy?”  
  
Mina rolls her eyes, “Momo, I can’t even remember the last time we –”  
  
“Hush!” Momo quickly interrupts, pressing a finger to Mina’s lips before whispering, “I’m just tired these days, okay? You know my knee went bad a couple of years ago. But… perhaps tonight, if you’re up to it?”  
  
Momo is suddenly very acutely aware that she was Yerim’s age once, and briefly prays to her parents in heaven that they never did anything filthy past forty – not because it isn’t okay, but because offering this now to Mina makes it all too real that maybe the semi-elderly are up to no good at night, too. She and Mina have remained in better shape than most people their age, looking more like they’re in their late fifties than early seventies, but it’s different when you are more than well-aware of your own age.  
  
Mina’s brow rises, her eyes searching Momo’s for some kind of punchline. “Are you kidding?”  
  
“No,” Momo admits, sheepishly.  
  
Pursed lips. “Maybe…”  
  
“Awesome,” Momo giggles, squeezing Mina’s hand and lifting it up to kiss the veins on the back of her hand. “Looking forward to it, Mrs. Myoui.”  
  
Mina smiles softly. “I still manage to love you more and more every day, by the way.”  
  
“Is that so?”  
  
“It’s probably because you’re Momo, after all, but also because you’ve never stopped being cute.”  
  
Momo chortles. “I feel the same way, although it’s probably moreso because you’re Mina and because you never fail to make me happy every day.”  
  
Mina smirks, leaning into the banter. “And you’ll always be _my_ Momo, right?”  
  
“Only if,” Momo leans in, “you promise to always be _my_ Mina.”  
  
Mina giggles, and Momo feels her warm breath against her lips. “I made that promise decades ago, didn’t I?”  
  
Momo only hums before closing the distance between them, the kiss soft and sentimental in a way that makes Momo hope that Yerim will know that this is what joy feels like, what intimacy means at its core. Momo can briefly feel herself back on her own wedding day, feel the way Mina felt in her arms when they, too, had their slow dance in front of their treasured friends and family, when their parents were still around to breathe down their necks when they were worried, when their lives were only beginning to unfold for them, when they were just wives and not mothers. That sunset fills her mind again, an incredible lavender and cotton candy pink landscape that would’ve escaped her had she not remembered it in this moment.  
  
When they pull away, Momo is crying, and maybe Mina cries at the sight of her own wife crying. And then they’re both crying, because they look over at their daughter and watch as Yerim shares a kiss with that handsome boy they’ve grown so fond of in the past few years. And Momo is happy to find that look in his eyes that she recognizes, the same look that Mina can probably see in Yerim’s as well. They’ve shared that look themselves, and they’ve shared it every day since they were seniors in high school, when all that mattered were varsity jackets and learning how to kiss with the girl you’ve pined for. That look that Momo can distinguish above any other.  
  
It is love.

* * *

_  
Always. Always._  
  
Sana purses her lips as she looks at the familiar gravestones from a small distance, side by side and almost perfectly identical were it not for the two different first names. She used to hate the large _“Always”_ on the granite surfaces, but now she stares at them with a familiar and loving ache, because it’s a word that really stuck with those two more than anything. It’s been a year now, the first anniversary since the world took away her two best friends, took away two loving mothers, took away two soulmates. Or so she used to think in those first few bitter months before remembering that, hell, they all made it to ninety-four and that it was only natural for Mina to follow Momo into the dark unknown. Hadn’t that been a part of her vows, always being there for Momo?  
  
_Even in death,_ Sana thinks to herself with a sigh. She glances at the two empty spaces beside Momo’s plot, remembering the arrangements that they had made together in advance four years ago, as dark as it sounds. When you reach your nineties, you make sure to get your shit in order if you haven’t already. So, Sana somberly thinks, _Wait for us. Dahyun and I won’t be far behind, I’m sure._  
  
She can feel Dahyun tugging gently at her arm, and Sana looks down at her beloved in the wheelchair before offering her a small smile. “You need something?”  
  
“Are you okay?” Dahyun asks quietly, not wanting to disturb Yerim who has knelt at the gravestones to pray. Dahyun had always been better about the situation, being familiar with loved ones passing away at unfortunate times in her own life, so she had been a great deal of help in getting Sana to process everything in as little time as she did. Sana expected to be devastated until she, too, was gone, but here she is now, only a year later, and she knows that she’s doing better than she initially expected.  
  
Sana gently rubs Dahyun’s shoulder. “I’m okay. Just sad, you know? But I’m okay.”  
  
“I miss them, too. I can only imagine how you two must feel,” Dahyun says quietly, placing a hand atop Sana’s and squeezing. Dahyun always did that; downplay what she meant to Momo and Mina by comparison to both Sana and Yerim.  
  
“You can be just as sad, love,” Sana responds.  
  
Dahyun pats Sana’s hand before letting go. “You should talk to her.”  
  
“Momo or Mina?”  
  
“You can talk to them after,” Dahyun smiles softly, “I mean Yerim.”  
  
Sana nods, leaving Dahyun in the chair for a moment before walking over and standing beside Yerim. She waits until Yerim finishes, admittedly a bit curious what her goddaughter might be thinking but ultimately knowing she would never inquire.  
  
Yerim opens her eyes and stands, surprised by Sana standing beside her. “Auntie?”  
  
“They lived a very happy life, you know,” Sana says softly, staring again at that word, repeated twice across two slabs of granite. _Always_.  
  
Yerim nods, tucking her hands into her black trench coat’s pockets. “It always seemed so.”  
  
“Not ‘seemed,’” Sana shakes her head gently. “It’s the truth. Not many people make it to ninety-four, even with modern medicine. They found each other when they were children, loved one another in silence throughout high school until they eventually got together by the end of it, persevered through an incredible amount of distance for years before Mina moved back and they got married, almost immediately, because they couldn’t take another moment without the world knowing they belonged to one another. Had the time to live their lives together for a while and make up for all that lost time they could’ve spent holding one another, before inevitably taking you in and becoming parents and dog owners. Stable jobs, good parents who saw their daughter through childhood, puberty, school, adulthood. All four of the dogs they ever owned lived long lives, longer than expected for their breeds. Saw their daughter graduate, fall in love, get married, have three children, thus turning your parents into doting grandparents.”  
  
“I worry that I won’t be as good as them,” Yerim admits quietly, her eyes watering but her resolve remaining. Sana reaches out and lets Yerim rest her hand in her own. She knows there is nothing she can really say to squash that worry, because Yerim is Momo and Mina's daughter so of course she is already just as wonderful, but she figures talking more about her parents might be nice. Honoring their memory.  
  
“All your children got to meet them. The youngest of them is fifteen, so they all had the pleasure of knowing them when they were old enough to appreciate them. It’s hard not to love your parents, I’ve learned,” Sana’s breathless chuckle is slightly broken, “I miss them dearly. I know you do, too. But I rest well these nights, knowing that they truly knew what it was like to have a fulfilled life. They wouldn’t leave us behind if they didn’t trust how they left things for us. Only soulmates pass away in their sleep on the same night, you know. Your mother, Mina, promised on their wedding day that she would always be there for your mom, so if Momo’s soul knew that it was time to go, then Mina’s knew to trust that and depart with her. That was their damned thing, you know? That thing they always said.”  
  
“They were always one another’s,” Yerim answered, staring at the headstones, “and that the other was their favorite part of this world.”  
  
Sana squeezes Yerim’s hand. “Say it a hundred times in a single lifetime, and it starts to stick to the people around you, huh?”  
  
Yerim manages a soft chuckle, a tear escaping, “Definitely, Auntie.”  
  
“They were more than this world deserved,” Sana nods to herself, staring at the familiar names she ached to see smile again.  
  
“I know. I was lucky to have them in my life for so long.”  
  
Sana glances at Yerim. “You can have a wonderful life, too, if you keep it close to your heart like they did.”  
  
“Keep what close?” Yerim asks, turning toward Sana, who looks at her firmly.  
  
“It was the thing that started it from as far back as when they met, I think, even if they didn’t know it. That feeling that almost kept Momo from taking a leap of faith because she feared for her friendship, that feeling that had Mina quiet and waiting to fall for three long years. The thing that they felt from one another, no matter the distance, in unfathomable amounts. The driving force behind their passion, the thing that they always managed to see even in others, that spark in their eyes and that song they hummed whenever they were happy and around each other, around you, around us. The feeling they had for their careers, the emotion behind their silly inside jokes, the force behind the words that stuck with them from the beginning of high school until probably their last night together, I’d bet. Something they seemed to understand better than anyone else.”  
  
“What was it?” Yerim asks, and Sana turns back toward the headstones, pulling her goddaughter into her side by wrapping an arm around Yerim and tugging her closer. Staring at those names, at those words; it’s clear as day. Sana had felt it from the day they had all met, that special something that pulled her toward Momo Hirai and Mina Myoui from the very beginning, without her ever realizing its name.  
  
“It was _always, always_ love.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry about the mega-vague summary. I'm definitely that kind of author, lol. But hopefully it hits a bit harder after reading.  
> Thank you for taking the time to read my work, and thank you so much in advance if there are any comments. It always makes me happy to see any feedback. Enjoy the New Year, folks.
> 
> Twitter: [@heartshooketh](https://twitter.com/heartshooketh)  
> CuriousCat: [@dubfu](https://curiouscat.me/dubfu)


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